


You got the heart (to carry me)

by deepestbluest



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Dubious Parallels, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22296754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepestbluest/pseuds/deepestbluest
Summary: “Did you already see a medical-nin?” he asks. The wound he’s working on now looks like its healing has been accelerated.Kakashi hums an affirmative.“You know you could have had them patch you up all the way, right? Chakra works a lot faster than ointment.”
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Comments: 67
Kudos: 513





	You got the heart (to carry me)

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from "Carry Me" by Family of the Year
> 
> For the record, the "first aid" in this fic is meant to mimic what happens in the Naruto universe. It's intentionally not supposed to look like comprehensive real world first aid

Iruka feels the warning tickle of chakra warning him of someone approaching sometime after midnight. It was a long week of teaching another teacher’s class how to sense someone else’s chakra on top of teaching his own class, and he’s exhausted. He might have slept through the alarms if he weren’t so tired he can’t sleep.

He hauls himself out of bed and trudges to the door. He glances through the peephole, recognizes the uneven streak of silver hair, and opens the door.

Kakashi steps inside carefully, one hand pressed to his arm.

Iruka knows how this routine goes. He’s too tired to put on a façade of ignorance. He simply waves Kakashi toward the kitchen. “Take off whatever you need to,” he mumbles. “I’ll get the kit.”

He doesn’t wait for Kakashi to answer. They’ve done this often enough that Iruka knows Kakashi will do as he’s told.

The big first aid he keeps at home kit is in the bathroom. Iruka pauses for a moment before he grabs the kit to splash cold water on his face; it shocks him into wakefulness as it always has in the past.

By the time he gets to the kitchen, Kakashi is sitting on the table, shirt folded up next to him on the table, legs spread to make room for a chair. He’s politely left it far enough from himself that Iruka won’t be sitting uncomfortably close. It took a while to teach him to do that, and Iruka lets himself feel a bit of pride in himself for successfully training Konoha’s genius.

“Hold this,” he says, holding the kit out on his way to the sink.

Kakashi takes it obediently, his one visible eye tracking Iruka as he fishes out the bowl he’s designated Kakashi’s blood bowl and fills it with warm water.

“Energetic class?” Kakashi asks as Iruka returns to the table and drops into his chair.

“I think I’m getting old,” Iruka says with a sigh. There are soft cloths in the kit for cleaning wounds, and from the look of Kakashi, he’s going to use most of them. “One of them almost hit me with two shuriken during lunch, and she was more surprised than I was.”

He doesn’t really mind; in the moment, he’d initially been impressed by how close his student had come to hitting her actual target. Hours later, he’s just tired.

Deciding where to start with Kakashi’s wounds takes a moment. There aren’t any that look especially deep, so for the sake of ease of reach, Iruka dips the first cloth into the water, squeezes out the excess, then begins gently dabbing the cut on Kakashi’s arm that runs from his outer wrist almost up to his elbow.

Tilting his head curiously, Kakashi asks, “Why did she have shuriken at lunch?”

“She has a very supportive shinobi family and easily impressed classmates. Last week she brought in a pack of senbon.” Shifting the cloth to use a clean section, Iruka dabs at the next cut with a clean section.

Kakashi’s wince validates Iruka’s knee-jerk reaction to scold the girl for bringing weapons to school. That or Iruka accidentally pressed too hard on a cut.

“Did you already see a medical-nin?” he asks. The wound he’s working on now looks like its healing has been accelerated.

Kakashi hums an affirmative.

“You know you could have had them patch you up all the way, right? Chakra works a lot faster than ointment.”

“Ah, but they always harass me about getting hurt while they do it. And they aren’t nearly as gentle with me as you are, Sensei.”

Iruka snorts. “Maybe if you tried sweet-talking them like you do with me, they would.”

“So it does work on you, Sensei?”

Momentarily abandoning his assessment of Kakashi’s other arm, Iruka forces down the feeling of his heart beating too fast and grins up at Kakashi as brightly as he can. “Not even a little.”

Kakashi deflates overdramatically. “All those parents trying to convince you that their children are the stars of their generation and shouldn’t be disciplined so severely wore you down, huh?”

Iruka shakes his head, but Kakashi isn’t entirely wrong. He doesn’t get sweet-talked as a teacher at the Academy very often anymore, but the Missions Desk is an exercise in dodging flirting.

“Did you get many messy reports while I was gone?” Kakashi asks. Before Iruka can answer, he makes a soft sound of revelation. “It’s fellow shinobi who’ve made you impervious, isn’t it? I thought I was the only one brave enough to try.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, Kakashi-sensei, but Asuma alone has you beat. He really doesn't like doing paperwork."

Iruka takes pride in the evenness of his voice. It’s difficult to concentrate on cleaning Kakashi up when Iruka also has to walk the thin line of friendly flirting, but experience has made the balancing act easier. He almost doesn’t feel his face heat when he presses a cloth to a long but shallow wound that runs over Kakashi’s hip and gets a teasing, “Why, Iruka-san, that’s very forward of you.”

Iruka presses a little harder than necessary when he gets to the lowest part of the cut, and Kakashi grunts.

“Something wrong?” Iruka asks mildly.

“You’re very mean, you know. I can’t believe you’re allowed to mold the minds of our youth.”

Kakashi adds an overwrought sigh at the end, which he immediately undoes by smiling, and despite himself, Iruka is gentler than he means to be when he takes Kakashi’s hand and runs a fresh cloth over his damaged knuckles.

Shaking his head, Iruka moves up Kakashi’s arm. “You still haven’t told me why you actually don’t let the medical-nin put you back together all the way.”

“Didn’t I?” Kakashi asks. “It must have slipped my mind.”

There’s no sense in trying to push the question. Kakashi’s an infamous eccentric. He probably doesn’t know why he doesn’t stay in the hospital or why he comes to Iruka.

Kakashi doesn’t make another saucy comment when Iruka smooths the ointment over the cut on his hip. Iruka feels uncomfortably bereft in the silence.

“You’ll take the bandages off before you shower,” he orders as he returns the jar of ointment to the kit and pulls out the box of bandages. “I don’t want to find out you got something nasty because you left them on. I wouldn’t cover them to begin with, but your clothes will soak up the ointment or irritate the cuts.”

“I know.”

“Good. Then I won’t have to worry.”

He will anyway. Teaching and worrying go hand in hand.

Once the last of the cuts is covered, Iruka sits back in his chair with a sigh. 

Kakashi says his thanks before he gets up and slouches away, only pausing at the door to throw a lazy salute at Iruka over his shoulder.

He leaves the mess behind, silently delegating cleanup to Iruka, but that’s just part of how this goes. Iruka sent him away every time he tried to stay, so now he knows just to leave. 

At least Iruka falls into a deep sleep after he cleans up.

* * *

Naruto swings by the next morning. Iruka is almost ready to leave for the Academy when he hears the familiar insistent knocking on his door, which is briefly terrifying- Naruto never willingly wakes up before the sun clears the horizon.

He looks fine when Iruka gets the door open, and Kakashi would have mentioned if Naruto had gotten hurt.

That doesn’t quell the fear seizing up in Iruka’s belly, but it does keep him from yanking Naruto inside and patting him down. 

Rubbing at his eyes, Naruto mumbles, “Morning, Iruka-sensei.”

“Good morning,” Iruka answers reflexively. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“Yeah, but I wanted to check on you since you’ve been alone for so long, you know? Kakashi-sensei said I shouldn’t bother you last night. You’re busy teaching the little kids and stuff…”

 _What a masterful way to keep Naruto away,_ Iruka thinks wryly, neither impressed nor annoyed. It’s a good strategy, for now. Naruto likes his routines, though, and eating a meal with Iruka when he comes home is one of them. Eventually, if Kakashi wants Iruka to keep patching him up, he’s going to have to figure out what to do about that.

That’s his problem, though, and Iruka doesn’t have enough energy to worry about bridges he isn’t in charge of crossing.

“Are you just stopping in or do you want to stick around?” Iruka asks as Naruto wanders into the apartment. “I’m due at the Academy in a couple minutes.”

Naruto mumbles something and wanders over to the kotatsu. Iruka takes that to mean “I’m staying” and, knowing how cold his apartment gets, turns the kotatsu on and tucks Naruto in.

“There’s some food in the fridge if you get hungry, but save some room for later, okay? I’ll buy you dinner. And be careful sleeping here. I don't want you to get burned."

The noise Naruto makes is completely unintelligible. He’s almost asleep, so Iruka doesn’t bother pressing the issue. With one quick ruffle of Naruto’s messy hair, he grabs his bag, locks the door, sets the usual chakra traps Naruto knows to disarm and reset, and heads out.

The good mood Naruto’s return puts him in lasts until he gets to the Academy and finds out the past week wasn’t a brief assignment. He’s going to be teaching both classes on his own until Daikoku gets back.

With a look of sympathy, the principal pats Iruka’s shoulder on his way out.

Iruka watches him go, his footsteps tolling the death of any personal life Iruka had optimistically started to think he could build.

* * *

By the time he gets home, Iruka is ready to crawl into bed. He’s never had so many close calls with shuriken in one day. Even at his worst, Naruto only ever got one or two near Iruka’s head.

_Naruto._

They’re going to go out to eat tonight. Iruka completely forgot.

He’s mentally dragging himself into something closer to excited than half dead when he steps into his apartment.

He’s met with a pleasant smell that definitely doesn’t belong in Iruka’s apartment.

“Welcome home!” Naruto shouts from the kitchen.

When Iruka cautiously peeks his head in, he finds Naruto stirring a pot on the stove.

“I decided I’m going to cook for you tonight,” Naruto explains, unprompted. “If we went out and got ramen, you’d have to walk home again, so you’d want to leave early. But if we eat here, you don’t have to go anywhere, so I can stay longer!”

He’s grinning at Iruka like he’s the smartest person on earth, and all Iruka can do is look at him and wonder how he went so long without seeing the joy Naruto radiates. It's almost painful, and it only gets brighter whenever he’s decided he did something well.

It’s only right that Iruka rolls his eyes and suggests Naruto just wants to sleep over.

Naruto only grins wider.

“Where’d you learn to make this?” Iruka asks as he joins Naruto by the stove. Peering over Naruto’s shoulder, he teases, “Did you read a book, Naruto?”

“Shut up, Iruka-sensei! I read lots of books!”

Naruto glowers at him, so Iruka musses his hair until Naruto stops complaining and starts laughing.

He does like reading, Iruka reflects. Finding a book Naruto likes enough to bother with can be a challenge, but when he finds one, it often becomes a favorite.

“Kakashi-sensei taught us how to make this on our last mission,” Naruto explains. His face is still scrunched up in annoyance; Iruka doesn’t tell him the expression makes him look even cuter. “He said mine was the best.”

“Did you do anything to Sasuke’s?” Iruka asks, experience suggesting foul play.

“...No.”

“Naruto.”

“Okay, okay! Maybe I put some dirt in it.” Iruka lifts his brows and Naruto sighs. “Maybe it was a lot of dirt.”

Iruka shakes his head, hiding how much he’s missed Naruto’s troublemaking behind weak disapproval, and turns away to start setting the table. “How did Sakura take it?”

“What? The dirt? I only did that to Sasuke.”

Naruto’s tone is blatantly proud.

“I meant losing to you, idiot.”

“That’s mean, Sensei!” He stops to sip a bit of soup from a spoon. “It’s done! And Sakura didn’t mind losing to me. Everybody knows she can’t cook.”

The table is set, and Iruka watches Naruto carefully ladle two roughly equivalent servings into their bowls.

“What is that?” Iruka asks, pointing at Naruto’s bowl. “Aren’t you hungry from your mission? That’s less than you’d eat if we went to Ichiraku.”

Naruto looks between Iruka and the pot of soup. He wants another helping; Iruka can feel it.

“Eat, Naruto.”

It’s a common command Iruka has heard from countless relatives of his students. He thinks his own parents used to say it to him, but his memories of them are smudged at the edges with the passage of time. The endless line of parents fussing over their children in ways he might only wish his parents had fussed over him has blurred the truth so much he can’t be sure.

This isn’t the first time Iruka has had to tell Naruto to eat, but Naruto still lights up as if this is the first time anyone’s ever worried about him- not about the Tailed Beast sealed inside him, about Uzumaki Naruto.

Iruka came dangerously close to being another adult who failed Naruto. If he’s honest, he did fail Naruto at first. There’s no way Naruto’s forgotten that.

But here Naruto is, making himself at home in Iruka’s home, merrily serving himself. The Nine Tails is a beast that only knows hatred, but this is a boy who’s never met a person he couldn’t love.

If anyone can live a good life as a jinchuuriki, it's Naruto.

His bowl is nearly overflowing when he stops ladling soup into his bowl, smiling impossibly wide as he does, and Iruka thinks to himself that he hopes Naruto’s team protects that part of him.

Affection creeps up Iruka’s chest as he waves at Naruto to sit down and Naruto does so eagerly.

As if he isn't obviously pleased to be fussed over, Naruto tried to grumble, "I’m not a kid anymore, you know.”

“I’m taller than you are, though, so you have to do what I say," Iruka argues.

“You’re taller than the Hokage and you don’t tell _him_ what to do.”

“Shut up, Naruto,” Iruka tells him without heat. Teasing Naruto should be beneath him, but makes such funny faces, Iruka can’t make himself stop.

“You shut up!” Naruto yells, just like he always does. “I went to all this trouble and made this awesome food for you!”

Sulking, he folds his arms across his chest.

“Yes, you did,” Iruka acknowledges. “Thank you, Naruto.”

“It wasn’t that much,” Naruto mumbles, suddenly shy.

 _I hope your teammates remember to tell you how important you are,_ Iruka thinks. _Someday, you won’t get so flustered when someone acknowledges your hard work; I can't wait to see it._

As they wait for the soup to cool, Iruka moves into prodding Naruto for information about his latest mission. Naruto obliges him excitedly. No detail is too small. At one point, he describes fog for Iruka. 

Naruto keeps talking after the soup has cooled- between bites, after he’s swallowed. He knows Iruka won’t let him talk with food in his mouth. 

_He really did have a good time. I'm glad._

“And nobody got hurt?” Iruka asks, thinking about Kakashi.

Naruto tilts his head, considering. “Well, Kakashi-sensei got cut up a bit by the lady with the claw shoes, but he said he’s fine.”

That explains the wounds. Kakashi is too good to have gotten sliced up like that by just anyone.

Claw shoes, though. The life of a shinobi is a strange one.

“Actually,” Naruto says, aiming for nonchalant but landing closer to suspicious, “that reminds me. How come you’ve got all those bloody cloths in the bathroom?”

Iruka was going to finish taking care of them this morning, but he got distracted by Naruto's arrival. “Oh, uh, I was practicing a new jutsu and I’m having trouble getting it right.”

Naruto’s eyes sparkle. “Hey, Sensei-”

“No, I won’t teach it to you.”

Arms crossing across his chest, Naruto pouts at him. “Maybe _I_ could teach _you._ I’m a real ninja now, you know.”

Iruka’s gut reaction would be to laugh, but he knows Naruto too well to think this is a joke. With the exception of Konohamaru, Naruto’s never been in a position to teach someone else. He’s always been the odd one out, slow to learn and slow to master every technique in the Academy. Now that he’s going out on missions with his team, though, he’s growing faster than he ever did in school. Like Kakashi said, it won’t be long before he surpasses Iruka.

And he still won’t be anyone’s teacher.

It's a shame. Naruto would be a good teacher. He can explain things simply, and he's patient with people when they're working hard.

Guilt that he can't actually indulge Naruto curls in Iruka's gut.

“Tell you what,” Iruka offers. “If I haven’t figured it out by my birthday, your gift can be helping me figure it out. I do have to try to come with a few tricks of my own first, right?”

Naruto digests that quietly, the possibility of getting to be the teacher and the knowledge that he’ll have to wait for months before Iruka lets him try sinking in slowly.

Eyes opening wide, Naruto asks innocently, “If I get it right, will I get to name it?”

“What? Helping your teacher isn’t enough for you?” Iruka asks. “Give me back my soup!”

Without a moment of hesitation or reflection, Naruto lifts his bowl and chugs the remaining soup.

When he sets the bowl back down, he grins smugly. “Sorry, Sensei. There isn’t any left.”

Iruka shakes his head, feigning exasperation where he only feels affection. The apartment feels like a tomb sometimes. Inside, there’s Iruka, his earthly belongings, and only a rare other sign of life. 

Naruto fills up the space with life just by coming in. He’s too loud and too demanding even though he never expects to be given anything.

He’s going to be a great hokage one day- provided he and Sasuke don’t murder each other first.

“Well, I’m not finished, so you’re going to have to sit there and tell me more about your team," Iruka says. "Is your teacher still late all the time?”

The sound Naruto makes is so annoyed that Iruka knows he’s going to hear a heavily edited version of the truth where Kakashi is late all the time and Sasuke and Sakura constantly need to be saved by Naruto.

He hasn’t had a better dinner in a long time.

* * *

Iruka gets stabbed by a ten year old. She doesn’t mean to do it, which is usually the case. Her eyes go wide when she realizes the kunai she’d been waving around is sticking out of her teacher’s arm.

Her suddenly empty hands fly to her mouth and her eyes squeeze shut, but this isn’t the first time Iruka’s caught a stray weapon. He would have dodged this one, but he’d been in the middle of sorting out an issue with one boy’s shoe.

“Himawari-chan,” Iruka says tiredly as he straightens up and pulls the blade out, “what’s the rule about weapons?”

“We’re only supposed to use them if we mean it,” the little girl replies. She looks miserable, as his students always do when they get in trouble, but Iruka can’t afford to be lax about indiscretions with weapons.

“Good! Now, you know the punishment is sitting out and writing an assessment of your classmates.”

Holding out his hand, he waits for her to hand over the other two kunai he gave her.

She only gives him one.

The other, Iruka realizes belatedly, is sticking out of his thigh.

“I think we’ll review the proper way to treat weapons tomorrow,” he says to the class at large. He pulls the remaining kunai free as he makes his way to the first aid kit by the door. “Today, we’re going to work on the proper form for blocking with kunai.”

* * *

“I didn’t realize you’d seen so much combat.”

Iruka felt Kakashi at the door, so he doesn’t jump at the sound of Kakashi’s voice. He doesn’t greet Kakashi properly either, though there’s a good reason for that. He’s in the middle of trying to speed up the recovery of his arm with chakra- Himawari hit his throwing arm, and it’s deep enough to throw his aim off- but the wound is in an awkward part of his tricep.

Eyes closed, Iruka tries to concentrate on the pain so he can find the deepest part of the wound and begin there, but it’s difficult to do when Kakashi is standing within reach and radiating chakra.

“Can I help you, Kakashi-sensei?” Iruka asks without opening his eyes. “I’m a bit busy at the moment and your chakra is distracting.”

“I came to see if you could help me with something, but it can wait.”

Iruka knows before he looks what Kakashi’s going to need help with, and sure enough, he opens his eyes and Kakashi’s blood is smeared on Iruka’s kitchen wall.

Kakashi gives him a weak smile, and Iruka forces down the urge to yell at him. It’s one thing to yell at Naruto. It’s another to raise his voice at Kakashi. “I’ll get the kit.”

“Before you do-” Kakashi catches Iruka by the elbow of the arm Himawari struck. “I can help with that.”

He doesn’t wait for Iruka to agree; he just uses his own chakra to weave most of the cut back together.

“It isn’t as good as a medical nin could have done, but it’s better than nothing.”

“Thank you,” Iruka says, inclining his head. He leaves the room to fetch the kit- from the amount of blood, Kakashi’s going to need more than cleaning up- and doesn’t ask the question that’s begging to be asked.

When he returns, Kakashi is shirtless and sitting on the table, the chair waiting where it was the last time he came. His mask is still up, but Iruka has learned to read his expressions through it.

The smile Kakashi offers him is embarrassed.

Iruka’s leg twinges as he walks over. He sets the kit on the table, casts a critical look over Kakashi, and gives up on not asking.

“I understand you’d rather not go to the hospital, but if you have enough chakra to heal me, why don’t you use it on yourself?”

Kakashi hums to himself as if Iruka’s asked him a profound question. “That’s an interesting question.”

Frustration growing, Iruka snaps, “That isn’t a sufficient answer, and you know it.”

“I suppose I do.”

He doesn’t elaborate, and Iruka clenches his jaw as he uncaps the antiseptic and pours it on a cloth. The cut he’s about to work on isn’t deep, just long. That seems to be the case with most of Kakashi’s wounds. They won’t kill him, but they must hurt.

The antiseptic will make that worse.

Iruka presses it to Kakashi’s split skin and tries to take some vicious satisfaction in the sharp breath Kakashi pulls in through his teeth.

The cloth gets set aside for the moment. Next comes the tube of antibiotic ointment. It’s a new formula; according to the medical-nin Iruka got it from, it should minimize scarring.

That will help keep Kakashi limber and prevent future pain from scar tissue. He probably doesn’t think twice about the look of the scars he’s accumulated; most shinobi are like that, Iruka included. His students will grow up the same way. While they’re in his class, though, he can keep them from carrying marks before they need to.

The ointment heals wounds faster than the regular formula, so Iruka bought a few tubes to keep at home for himself when he ran out.

When he ran out because of Kakashi, Iruka reminds himself.

The problem is how much thicker it is. Iruka has to try hard not to disrupt the cut and make it bleed again as he rubs the ointment in.

“I’m not one of your students, you know,” Kakashi points out quietly. “You can be rough if you need to be. I know you aren’t an enemy; you won’t get hurt.”

Gritting his teeth, Iruka shakes his head. “I’m not being careful because I’m concerned for myself.”

“You’re very strange, Sensei.”

There’s no bite to the words. Iruka risks a glance up, and what he can see of Kakashi’s expression is distant.

It’s unsettling.

“What’s strange about me? We aren’t in the field. I can take the time not to hurt you.” Iruka shrugs. Guilt and anger roil in his chest. “Even if you don’t care, I have standards for my own behavior.”

The ointment is finally rubbed in properly, so Iruka grabs a bandage and covers it.

Kakashi wordlessly lifts his arm without being prompted. The mess under it must be where the blood on Iruka’s wall came from. Whatever weapon hit him, it was a nasty one.

Running a wet cloth around the part of Kakashi’s arm that’s injured, Iruka does the best he can to figure out where the injury actually is.

If he mops up more than the immediate area around the wound, well… Iruka may as well clean him up a bit while Kakashi is here.

Once he’s finished running wet cloths over Kakashi’s skin, Iruka hands him a dry one. “Dry that while I get fresh water.”

Kakashi obediently does as he’s told.

The kitchen lapses back into silence until Iruka dabs a damp cloth on the edge of the cut’s lower edge and Kakashi flinches. “I’m sorry.”

“I already told you it’s fine.”

“And I told you that it isn’t.”

“You don’t like being told what to do, do you?” Kakashi asks. He sounds amused, which rankles, but Iruka lets out a long breath and doesn’t yell at him.

“I’m fine with being told what to do,” he says instead.

“But?” Kakashi prompts.

“But you’re telling me to do something that feels wrong. That’s what I don’t like.”

“Sometimes the right thing feels like the wrong one.”

“Please don’t get philosophical with me. It’s annoying.”

Iruka rolls his eyes, and Kakashi chuckles. It’s a rare sound, which makes it more endearing than it ought to be.

Then fresh blood starts trickling down his ribs and Iruka realizes Kakashi’s laughter made the damage worse.

“Would you try to keep still?” Iruka tells him sharply. “I don’t want you to make this worse than it already is.”

Kakashi’s laughter tapers off. “If only your students knew you’re just as obstinate with your superiors as you are with them. You even argued with the hokage in public. That’s a brave thing to do. Stupid, too.”

Iruka bristles, only for Kakashi to wave at him with the hand on his other side. “I’m not picking a fight, Iruka-san. You left an impression, is what I’m saying. I’ve never heard of an Academy teacher arguing for us to take better care of their genin like you did. But we both know you’re a bit impulsive.”

“Is it so hard to imagine a teacher wanting to protect his students?” Iruka snaps.

“They aren’t your students after they graduate,” Kakashi points out. “Except they are, aren’t they? So long as they’re alive, they’re still your students.”

“Death doesn’t stop them from being my students,” Iruka counters.

To Iruka’s surprise, Kakashi nods like this is a good thing. “The Third was right about you. I thought making you Naruto’s teacher was bold- too bold, to be honest. Yet here you are, his surrogate father of sorts.”

“I’m glad I have your approval,” Iruka deadpans, lightly patting the wound with a dry cloth. He’s getting close to being done.

Kakashi only hums quietly, seemingly content to let Iruka have the last word.

When Iruka finally finishes, he sits back and stretches. His back makes a series of uncomfortable cracks and pops. He feels better afterwards, but his leg, still untreated, twinges sharply.

He’s anticipating the relief of getting into bed and fixing the worst of the damage, but he happens to look over at Kakashi. There’s something off about the way he’s holding himself as he pulls his shirt back on.

Iruka knows that stance. That’s the “I hurt myself but I don’t want to tell my teacher” stance.

“Where is it?” he asks.

Kakashi freezes. “Where’s what?”

“You’re hurt somewhere else. Don’t waste time lying. You and I know you’re hurt somewhere else. I’ve seen your upper body, so do us both a favor and take your pants off and let me fix it.”

The look Kakashi gives him is so suspicious, Iruka can only shake his head. “Pants, jounin-san. I really don't want to wrestle you, but I will if that’s what it takes to get them off.”

“Is this how you talk to your students?”

“Nope! They know not to argue once I know they’re hurt. Now stop trying to distract me and take your pants off.”

After a long moment, Kakashi reaches down and awkwardly shimmies his pants down. He gets them down to his knees, which is far enough for Iruka to see where the damage is. He takes over the task of pulling Kakashi’s pants down, getting a full picture of what happened and checking for other wounds.

The one to Kakashi’s knee seems to be the only remaining wound, but it looks like something tried to chew on it.

Considering some of the techniques out there, that isn't impossible.

“You’re that good at spotting them when they lie?” Kakashi asks.

“They’re twelve at most. They’re hardly masters of deception.” Iruka waves at him to sit back down. “What were you thinking, Kakashi-san, trying to leave with getting this looked at? How did the medical-nin miss it? No, never mind. Obviously you came here first.”

“See? You’re learning.”

Iruka shakes his head but gathers clean cloths and freshens the water in the bowl again.

Kakashi lets him work with minimal commentary. For the most part, he seems content answering Iruka’s occasional questions about what did the damage and how. It’s strange, but Iruka doesn’t mind.

“You’re very good at this” Kakashi says around the time Iruka reaches the midway point. “You’re much more confident taking care of others than you were when we worked together.”

“That’s a very generous description of the sole mission we went on together where I nearly got us all killed.”

“Like I told the Third, that was my-”

”Your reputation really isn’t very accurate,” Iruka interrupts. “Everyone says you’re so calculating and cool, but you’re trying to take care of us all. If you were as unshakable as everyone says, you wouldn’t worry so much about Naruto.”

“I don’t worry that much about him.”

“You worry enough to stand watch over his apartment when there are grumbles in the village about the cursed boy. You aren’t watching what’s happening inside. You’re making sure no one gets in.”

Kakashi blinks at him.

Iruka shrugs. He checks on Naruto, too.

A medical-nin should be the one weaving Kakashi’s leg back together. Rather than risk fixing him incorrectly, Iruka 

“Come back a week or two after the skin heals if you can,” Iruka tells him as he finishes. “Massage can keep the scar tissue from building up. Actually, I can give you the oil to use. It isn’t anything special, but it works well for me.”

“No, I’ll come back.” Kakashi clears his throat. “The angle is odd. It would be easier if you’d help.”

Iruka nods. “I will- after you see an actual healer!”

* * *

Kakashi comes back in two weeks. He looks better, and when he steps into Iruka’s apartment, he’s walking just like he had before he got hurt.

“So,” he says, “where are we doing the massage?”

“In the kitchen, same place we do everything else,” Iruka tells him. “It's been a long day, so I’d appreciate it if you let me do this with minimal arguing.”

One sweep of his eyes over Iruka and Kakashi nods. “I can do that.”

Kakashi heads to the kitchen, so Iruka leaves to grab the oil. He’s been keeping the bottle of oil by the radiator, so when he joins Kakashi and Kakashi’s nearly folded pants, the oil is warm.

Kakashi’s thinner than Iruka remembers. He’s leaner than muscular, his body long and delicate, and when Iruka lays his hand on Kakashi’s knee, he wonders if Kakashi’s eating well enough.

“Do you get regular meals?” he hears himself ask.

“When I’m in Konoha, yes. Why?”

Iruka shrugs. “You seem thinner than I thought.”

“Is that bad?”

“Not if you’re eating well when you can.”

Kakashi hums, and Iruka bites his tongue to keep from scolding him.

It doesn’t take long for Kakashi to relax, and it takes even less time for Kakashi to start nodding off. Iruka brushes off Kakashi’s attempts to tell him the couple minutes are enough; fractions of seconds can mean the end of a shinobi’s life. Iruka can keep himself awake for the sake of keeping Kakashi alive.

When he decides he’s finished, Iruka wipes his hands off on a cloth. “You can sleep here if you want to,” he tells Kakashi. “The futon’s comfortable.”

He doesn’t wait for an answer. He’s exhausted and Kakashi might be more likely to survive his next fight and that’s all that matters.

* * *

There’s a note on the fridge when Iruka gets up the next morning. It just says thanks, but Iruka can guess who left it.

He shakes his head and opens the door in search of the milk.

* * *

Kakashi smiles up at Iruka from his hospital bed.

“Hello, Iruka-san,” he says cheerfully. What brings you here?”

Iruka draws a long breath in and lets it out slowly. “What brings me here?” he echoes. “You do, actually.”

“Ah, yeah. I would have stopped by to see you when I got back, but there was a bit of a hole in my chest. The little genin were emphatic that I come here.” Kakashi smiles. “I’m better now, though, Sensei. No need to worry!”

“Is that so?”

“Yep!”

“Good to know.” Iruka nods at him crisply. He doesn’t know what he was expecting. He didn’t think he was expecting anything, but he’s disappointed. “I’m glad you got back.”

Brow furrowing, Kakashi tips his head. “Is something wrong?”

Iruka reminds himself sternly that he has no claim to this room or the strange man who occupies it. He scrapes together a smile and shakes his head. “I just wanted to see for myself that Naruto’s teacher is recovering. I’m glad to see you’re doing well!”

He can see Kakashi’s suspicions rising, so Iruka cuts his losses.

“Well, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you,” he tells Kakashi. He waves once on his way out the door, then does his level best to keep his expression composed as he backtracks to the exit.

His face is hot with embarrassment, but it's not as if he’ll have to see Kakashi anytime soon.

* * *

It’s been three days since Iruka visited Kakashi in the hospital. He, Suzume, and the newly-returned Daikoku are standing in the meeting room with the Third, Kakashi, and two chuunin Iruka doesn’t immediately recognize.

“Kakashi is going to be my assistant?” he asks. “I’m sorry if I haven’t been performing well enough-”

“Every teacher is getting one,” the Third interrupts, gesturing at the two chuunin standing by him. “It isn’t a punishment, Iruka. We’re trying to make your jobs easier. Kakashi can’t go on missions while he recovers, but his experience in the field could be a valuable asset. Don’t you think?”

“Giving me a man whose only experience with children is flying by the seat of his pants with genin is an asset?” Iruka asks, voice rising. He’s pushing it; he knows that. He isn’t having tea with the man who gave him hope after his parents died; he’s being given instructions by the head of his village. “Respectfully, Hokage-sama, I would be better off without having to train someone to train the students.”

Kakashi doesn’t react.

Iruka’s temper flares. No one warned him about this change in policy. His lessons are all designed with the understanding that he’d be the only adult. He doesn’t have anything for Kakashi to do, and as long as Kakashi is in the room, Iruka will have to work harder to get his students to concentrate.

He feels the Third’s gaze on him, and Iruka pushes away thoughts of walking out. He’s an adult, not a sulky child.

“Iruka,” the Third says, remonstration clear in Iruka’s name alone.

Iruka bows his head. “My apologies, Hokage-sama. Thank you for thinking of us. I’ll see to it that I make use of Kakashi.”

“See that you do.”

The Third says a few words to Suzume and Daikoku before he leaves. Suzume, Daikoku, and their assistants follow him out, leaving Iruka without any barriers between Kakashi and himself. The air feels charged, but that could just be Iruka’s frustration.

“They’ll be distracted by you for the first half hour,” he tells Kakashi, jerking his head to indicate Kakashi should follow him out. “It will be better if we address it right away. I’ll introduce you, you’ll tell them a little about yourself, and they’ll ask questions. Try not to frighten them. Keep the showing off to a minimum. You can use shuriken well, but they can’t. I don’t want them to lose any fingers trying to mimic you. And Naruto told me about you reading those Icha Icha books, so unless you want to watch them go up in flames, don't bring them anywhere near the school.”

“Of course. It’s your class, Iruka-sensei.”

Kakashi says it gently, but that only stokes Iruka's frustration.

It isn’t Kakashi’s fault he’s been assigned here. He isn’t this kind of teacher; he’d definitely rather be on a mission.

“There should be extra chairs in the supply closet,” Iruka tells him around a sigh as they reach the classroom. “It’s the next door down. Grab whichever one you like.”

Kakashi nods and heads for the closet, and Iruka rubs at his forehead until he hears Kakashi’s footsteps coming back.

 _This is ridiculous,_ he tells himself. _Nothing happened. He’s fine. I’m fine. The students will be fine._

Chair in hand, Kakashi glances around. “Where should I…?”

Iruka reminds himself that Kakashi is here to help him. “By the desk is fine."

* * *

Introducing Kakashi brings as much chaos as Iruka had anticipated. He manages to introduce himself in a way that’s at least mostly comprehensible. The problem is with his appearance.

His mask and tilted headband make him mysterious. To children Naruto’s age, that’s a challenge.

To this group, it’s a mystery, and they demand that he solve it for them.

Faced with twenty children, Iruka notes, Kakashi looks out of his depth.

“Hotaru-san,” Iruka scolds the little girl he just bodily intercepted on her way to Kakashi, “you know better than to get up without permission. Please return to your seat.”

He turns her around, only for her to turn right back around when he lets go.

“But, Sensei!” she protests.

“Kakashi-sensei is a teacher, too,” Iruka reminds her firmly. “Are you allowed to grab my face? No, you aren’t. His face is off-limits, too. Understood?”

Slowly, she nods.

Looking up at the rest of the class, he repeats, “Understood?”

He doesn’t get the united “Yes, Sensei” he’s been trying to teach them to say, but the response is close enough.

Hotaru returns to her seat, and Iruka turns to the blackboard. “Enough excitement! Time to get back to the three types of techniques shinobi use. Who remembers what they’re called?”

The students groan, and Iruka knows he’s got them back.

* * *

The students are running around outside with Iruka and Kakashi supervising them when Kakashi says, “I really did try to tell him I’d only get in your way.”

Sighing, Iruka nods. “I know.”

“You do?”

“What's that look for? I know this isn’t what you like doing. Using you as a guinea pig makes sense, though. You can’t do any other work, we already know each other, and this is a good way to introduce the concept of assistants.” Iruka reaches up and adjusts his headband. “I’m sorry, but you’ll be bored for the first few days while I figure out what to do with you.”

“I leave myself in your hands,” Kakashi tells him.

Iruka shakes his head. “Don’t be so formal. You’re going to resent me soon.”

Kakashi frowns a question at him.

“Grading papers,” Iruka explans. “You’ll only get the multiple choice ones, but don’t worry- those can be just as challenging.”

* * *

Kakashi is sitting with Iruka at the kotatsu, looking over the first homework assignment Iruka gave him to grade. He’s been staring at it for five minutes.

“Iruka,” he says.

“Yes, Kakashi-san?” Iruka asks without looking up from his fifth test. He doesn’t point out Kakashi’s over-familiarity. He’s an eccentric, after all.

“I don’t think this one has anything on it.”

He holds the paper up, and Iruka looks it over. He spots the problem immediately.

“That’s not true, Kakashi-san. Tatsu wrote his name at the top.”

Kakashi doesn’t look at the paper. “He didn’t answer any of the questions.”

“Did you turn it over?”

“There’s nothing on the back-”

“All the way over.”

Papers rustle, and a moment later, Kakashi says, “Oh. Why did he put everything back here? He even wrote out the entire questions and answers.”

“No idea. His handwriting is very good, though, isn’t it?”

“Very,” Kakashi agrees. “And you accept this?”

“It’s written neatly, and the information is in one place. Yeah, I accept it.”

“Aren’t you the one who yells at jounin for turning in paperwork that isn’t perfect?”

Finished with his current test, Iruka sets it aside and grabs the next. “Jounin aren’t ten years old. Usually. And Tatsu only does this for homework. His tests are always filled out correctly.”

Kakashi gives him a suspicious look. “You like children more than you like adults, don’t you?”

Iruka hums. “Not really. Children are eccentric because they haven’t learned not to be. When that eccentricity becomes a hazard, an adult can correct them, and they’ll stop. Adults like to pretend they’re done learning, so they don’t change and people get hurt. That’s all.”

“That’s a lot, you know.”

“Is it?”

“It is.”

“Then I guess I do like them better,” Iruka admits. He glances up from a particularly colorful exam- Sakuragi probably won’t graduate, so Iruka is enjoying the boy’s fondness for colored pencils while he can- and meets Kakashi’s curious gaze. “I don’t dislike adults, though, you know.”

He looks away, but he still hears Kakashi’s quiet, “I’m happy to hear it.”

* * *

Sakuragi, who normally arrives right before class begins, arrives ten minutes before class starts. He doesn’t come alone.

“Mom’s sick,” he explains as he carries his little sister in one arm and the bag of supplies in the other. “Dad’s on a mission and she couldn’t find someone else to look after her. She told me to tell you she’s sorry.”

“What’s her name?” Kakashi asks. He doesn’t look scared of the little girl, but he doesn’t seem comfortable being around her either.

Iruka can guess why. She’s young enough that Sakuragi isn’t holding her for the sake of it.

Sakuragi looks down at his sister with a look of pride. “Akane,” he says proudly.

Iruka considers the situation, then nods to himself. “You’re going to need both hands to take notes this morning, Sakuragi,” he says. “We’re practicing with kunai after lunch. It will be dangerous for you to keep your sister with you.”

Sakuragi’s eyes go wide, and Iruka realizes he did this in the wrong order.

“Which is why I’m going to ask you to entrust her to your teachers,” he adds quickly. “Kakashi-sensei and I won’t take her out of your sight, and there’s no one more dependable than Kakashi-sensei. Isn’t that right?”

Kakashi nods without prompting. “I always keep my students safe.” He smiles at Sakuragi, and if Iruka didn’t know better, he’d think Kakashi isn’t nervous.

Their student looks between them, uncertainty clear, before he nods to himself and holds his sister out. “Please look after her,” he says with all the gravity of a boy who knows he’s been entrusted with someone important.

Iruka takes the little girl, who looks up at him with Sakuragi’s guileless brown eyes. “Hello, Akane-chan,” he says, settling her on his hip. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Let’s do our best to teach your brother’s class, okay?”

She makes a soft baby sound that makes Iruka’s heart ache. She really is tiny…

“Why don’t you get settled, Sakuragi-kun?” Kakashi suggests. “Class is going to start soon.”

“Oh. Right,” Sakuragi says. He heads to his seat just as a group of his classmates wanders in.

“A baby?” one of them asks.

In response, there’s a chorus of, “A baby?” and, “Does Iruka-sensei have a baby?” “Is it even a baby? What if it’s a genjutsu?”

“Good morning,” Iruka says once the last of his students has arrived. “This Akane-chan. She’s Sakuragi’s sister, and she’s very kindly offered to help Kakashi-sensei and me teach you today.”

“Teach us what?” someone asks.

“How to study without whining,” Iruka tells them, putting as much joy into it as possible. His class recoils. “We don’t want to disturb her, so you’re all going to practice being quiet like you’re supposed to be on missions. Anyone who disturbs Akane-chan will fail this surprise test. Now, get your pencils out. You’re going to take notes on taijutsu this morning.”

Kakashi shakes his head as he takes the stack of notepaper from Iruka’s desk. “That’s a very good cover, Iruka-sensei,” he says lowly. “Cruel, though.”

“Of course it is,” Iruka agrees. “I’m a seasoned teacher, you know.”

* * *

Suzume and Daikoku discover Iruka’s second assistant at school-wide playtime. Sakuragi offered to take his sister back, but he’d clearly wanted to play with his friends. Iruka waved him off. He’s happy to hold onto Akane for a while longer.

“Fatherhood would suit you,” Daikoku tells him. There’s a smile in his eyes that says he’s going to tease Iruka later for being so willing to carry the little girl. “You’re still looking after the kyuubi boy, aren’t you?”

“Naruto stays with me sometimes, yes,” Iruka corrects. “His training is Kakashi-sensei’s job now.”

From his place sitting on the ground, Kakashi says, “Yep, he’s part of Team 7. I knew people called him a monster because of the kyuubi. Nobody warned me that he’s so loud.” He sighs, dramatically put upon.

Suzume throws Iruka a pointed look. It’s neither reproachful nor amused, merely pointed. “A boy Iruka-sensei taught is loud? How unexpected.”

As if to prove her point, across the field, two of Iruka’s students get into it with two of Daikoku’s. Only Iruka’s students are yelling loudly enough to be heard.

“Well, Naruto may be noisy, but he can be quiet when he has to be.” Kakashi scratches the back of his head. “From a team standpoint, I’d rather have three of Iruka’s noisy genin who have good hearts than three indifferent ones.”

Suzume and Daikoku look to Iruka as if he isn’t just as taken aback.

Dropping his hand, Kakashi smiles up at them. “Well, that’s just what I think. Some people prefer genin who just follow the rules.”

A yelp draws the group’s attention back to the students. One of Iruka’s boys and, out of nowhere, one of Suzume’s girls are rolling around on the ground, hitting and pulling at each other.

“Suzume-sensei,” Iruka begins, only for Kakashi to interrupt.

“I’ve got it,” he says as he hops to his feet. “Someone has to keep Naruto from strangling Sasuke.”

With that, he runs off and breaks into the fray. He separates the two children after a few seconds of struggle, then hoists both of them up by their clothes and carries them back to their teachers.

The boy, Shinsuke, isn’t a surprise. He’s gotten into fights with most of his classmates.

Kakashi gently places both students on the ground on either side of himself but keeps a hand on each one’s shoulder.

“Come on, Shinsuke,” Iruka says, jerking his head toward a quiet corner of the play area. “Let’s leave Kakashi-sensei to look after your classmates.”

Shinsuke nods miserably and falls into step behind Iruka.

This is how this goes. Shinsuke acts out. Iruka takes him aside and asks what’s wrong. Shinsuke says nothing, and in a few days, the cycle begins again.

Iruka gently bounces Akane on his hip as he walks away. He isn’t sure how the little girl is still dozing quietly, but he’s relieved.

When Iruka comes to a stop, Shinsuke obediently comes around to stand in front of him.

“I don’t understand, Shinsuke-kun,” Iruka sighs. He can’t even get angry anymore; he just wants to know what’s wrong. “Why do you keep doing this?”

Shinsuke shrugs and stares at his feet.

“Well, usually I ask you to wait here until you can go back and apologize, but now that Kakashi-sensei is here, I can stay.”

Shinsuke twitches. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why would you stay? It’s not like I’m going to do anything. There’s nobody else here, so you don’t have to watch me.”

Iruka tilts his head back and looks up at the sky. It’s a bright, clear day. He closes his eyes and enjoys the feeling of sunlight on his face. “I want to look after all my students,” he tells the sky. “That includes the ones I don’t understand.”

“And I’m one of those, aren’t I?”

“You are. I keep thinking that maybe, if you’re paired with the right jounin, you’ll figure things out.”

“But you don’t think I will,” Shinsuke surmises.

“I don’t know what to think, Shinsuke-kun. Usually, my students tell me what they want, but you’re very stubborn.” He lets himself smile. He really is fond of the difficult ones. “Usually students like that are loud, but you’re quiet. I wish I knew why.”

He feels Shinsuke shift beside him.

“So stubborn you’ll expel me?” Shinsuke asks, his voice flat.

Iruka lets out a heavy breath and looks down at his student. “Being difficult isn’t grounds for expulsion. If it were, we wouldn’t have many shinobi.”

Shinsuke shrugs. “I guess so.”

Tilting his head up again, Iruka basks in the warmth. He’s been cold for a while; it would be nice to go to an onsen. There’s a good one up in the mountains not too far from the village. The last time he went, it was Mizuki’s idea.

Iruka’s back twinges, but he ignores it. He’s moved on from Mizuki. Naruto is running around happily.

Yeah, going to an onsen would be nice.

Turning away from the sun, Iruka blinks at the student he still answers for. “Hey, Shinsuke-kun?”

“Yes, Sensei?”

Iruka doesn’t have anything to say. This is the closest he has to connecting with Shinsuke.

“Are you ready to go back and apologize?”

Shinsuke nods, just like he always does. “Yes, Sensei.”

“Then let’s go back.”

Together, they return to the group. Shinsuke apologizes; it feels genuine, which confuses Iruka even more. The girl apologizes. There’s still half an hour left of time outside, so Iruka sends Shinsuke off to rejoin his friends.

“I wish I could figure out what he’s trying to tell me.”

“Don’t stress too much,” Daikoku advises. “It won’t help him if you overexert yourself.”

Suzume nods. “That’s right. If you get too worked up, you’ll just put more pressure on him!”

The other assistants nod- they, unlike Kakashi, have experience teaching.

Kakashi says nothing. He looks past Iruka, his eye tracking Shinsuke as the boy runs around and plays.

Maybe, if opened his other eye, his Sharingan could figure out what’s happening with Sharingan.

* * *

When the time for weapons training comes, Iruka hands Akane over to Kakashi.

“Iruka-sensei,” Kakashi protests quietly.

“You’ll be fine.”

Kakashi gives him an urgent look. “I’m usually the one people have to carry. Are you sure I can’t teach them today?”

“I am, because you’re better and more impressive than I am and they’ll complain about how I do it until they graduate. So you and Akane-chan will watch us and cheer us on. Now, would you rather sit or stand?”

“Sit,” Kakashi says quickly, and when Iruka points to the chair he’d brought out earlier, Kakashi makes his way over and sits down heavily.

Iruka and Akane follow at a more human pace.

“So, your arms go like this,” Iruka tells him, rearranging Kakashi, “and Akane-chan goes in like this…”

He slips the little girl into Kakashi’s arms.

“Are you sure this is okay?” Kakashi asks. He looks down at Akane dubiously.

“It’s perfect,” Iruka assures him. “Just make sure nothing sharp hits her, and you’ll be good.”

Kakashi looks up at him, wild-eyed. “Iruka-sensei!”

“See you!” Iruka says cheerfully before he jogs over to his class. “Now, who remembers what we learned last time?”

* * *

By the end of the class, Kakashi is comfortably holding Akane. Iruka doesn’t mention it or ask if Kakashi wants Iruka to take her again when they head back into the classroom.

Sakuragi collects his sister at the end of the day, and Kakashi hands her over gently.

Iruka waits for all the students to leave before he joins Kakashi at the desk. “Now you know what it’s like.”

“What?”

“Holding Akane-chan isn’t so different from teaching the students here,” Iruka explains. “You get comfortable with it, and before you know it, the life you were scared of holding is now the life you’re terrified of handing over.”

“So what you’re saying is, I should be grateful that you were so composed about Naruto being in my team.”

Nodding, Iruka pats Kakashi’s shoulder. “Don’t worry- you’ll feel the same thing when they become chuunin and have a different team leader.”

“Why are you saying that like it’s something I should look forward to?”

“Because it means you succeeded. Now, if you could get the kunai Hana threw into that tree, I’d appreciate it.”

* * *

Kakashi is patiently holding two girls apart, one hand on either girl’s forehead as they take swing after swing at each other.

Free to continue teaching as Kakashi handles the incident, Iruka continues talking the class through the foundations of ninjutsu.

By the end of the day, Kakashi has defused three fights, blocked Iruka from two rounds of spitballs, fetched all the stray shuriken after practice, and bandaged five scraped knees.

It’s nice to have help, but it’s even better to have Kakashi’s help. He’s unexpectedly patient in a way that doesn’t feel forced and takes an interest in each of their students. He bandages wounds and smooths ruffled feathers and lets the children cry into his shoulder.

He makes a habit of waiting for Iruka to finish and walking Iruka home. He doesn’t seem to mind that Iruka sometimes needs two or three hours to set up and take down something before he can leave, and he doesn’t insist on helping when Iruka says he doesn't need it.

They’re sitting at Iruka’s kitchen table together now, empty plates in front of them. Kakashi is talking about one of the students who tried to hit Iruka with spitballs having especially good aim; he seems genuinely excited about it.

Iruka listens to him but can’t help wondering whether Kakashi is forgetting that he’s going to be back on his feet soon and his time at the Academy will end.

 _Losing him is going to be difficult,_ Iruka thinks. He doesn’t say anything to Kakashi. Acknowledging the coming split won’t make it easier, and Iruka would rather enjoy this while it lasts.

* * *

Shinsuke gets into more fights.

The latest saw Iruka getting slashed with a kunai, and Iruka knows something has to change. If he can’t get Shinsuke in line, then he’ll have to report the boy to the principal as a danger and Shinsuke’s future as a shinobi will disappear.

* * *

“So Sakuragi is actually going to become a shinobi, huh?” Kakashi asks. He’s fully recovered now, and Iruka knows their last class together will arrive any day now.

“He is. He has an aptitude for genjutsu, and he wants to explore it.”

Kakashi nods. “And Shinsuke?”

Iruka drops his head into his hands. “I don’t know what to do about Shinsuke. He’s miserable. I’m miserable. But he still won’t say anything. I’ve had students who didn’t want to talk to me before, and I’ve had students who got into fights, but this is just…”

“You’re angry with him, aren’t you?”

“For hurting his classmates, yes. But he’s so obviously unhappy with everything… I don’t know how to reach him.”

Kakashi doesn’t say anything for a long moment, and Iruka continues to try to unravel the mystery of Shinsuke.

“You know,” Kakashi says, “you’re a very open person, Iruka.”

“I am?”

“You are. It’s good to be able to express yourself honestly. We can’t all do that. Some of us, when it comes down to it, can’t bring ourselves to say what we want. Fear, shame… Sometimes we just don’t have the words.”

Iruka nods. “You think Shinsuke is like that.”

“I think he’s been telling you all along what he wants. He just hasn’t said it as clearly as you’re looking for, and he won’t. If he did, he’d have to acknowledge what he wants and risk finding out that it’s impossible. And worse- his teacher might look down on him.”

“Children really carry the weight of the adults around them, don’t they?” Iruka asks. Leaning back on his elbows, he looks up at his ceiling. The light from there isn’t warm like sunlight. “I’ll listen harder. Thank you, Kakashi-san.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Kakashi shrug. “I’m glad you became a teacher.”

“I was that bad in the field, huh?” Iruka teases, letting his head loll to the side so he can watch Kakashi.

“No- Well, yes, but-” Kakashi lets out a sharp breath. “I’m trying to tell you that your students are lucky to have you as their teacher. It’s difficult to learn how to speak when no one wants to hear you; having someone who wants to hear you, even if they’re not really hearing you, is vital to wanting to try.”

His eyes have gone distant, and for a long moment, he just stares at Iruka’s ceiling. Then, as if on a timer, his eyes snap down to Iruka.

“Anyway, I know you’ll figure out what Shinsuke needs,” he says softly. “It’s getting late. I’ll see you tomorrow, Iruka.”

* * *

Two days and three fights after speaking with Kakashi, Iruka pulls Shinsuke aside.

Shinsuke is glaring at his feet, ready for them to go through the usual steps.

They’re standing outside the school building by the tree with the swing Naruto used to sit on when he didn’t have anyone to play with.

Iruka hasn’t seen him here in a long time.

“Should I kick you out?” Iruka asks.

For the first time since Shinsuke was assigned to him, the boy looks up from his feet and there’s a flash of hope on his face. It disappears quickly, drowned by a scowl, but Shinsuke can’t unmake the expression. Iruka saw it.

“You don’t want to be a shinobi, do you, Shinsuke-kun?” he asks.

Shinsuke flinches but doesn’t deny it.

“I’m very sorry it took me so long to hear you. But I’m listening now.” Iruka bows to him, formal and over dramatic but not fake. “Whatever you have to say, as your teacher, I promise I’ll listen!”

When he straightens up and looks at his student, Shinsuke’s eyes are wide, and Iruka’s heart hurts for him.

The silence stretches, Shinsuke’s expression doesn’t waver, and Iruka wants nothing more than to offer his student a place to start.

He can’t speak and listen at the same time, though. Shinsuke needs him to listen, so Iruka bites his tongue.

“I… I don’t want to be a shinobi, Sensei,” Shinsuke whispers. His eyes drop to his feet, and Iruka sees another boy who fought for attention.

Naruto was asking for enough attention to be loved. Shinsuke is asking for enough attention to be freed.

Iruka nods. “Thank you for telling me, Shinsuke-kun.”

“It’s not like anything’s different.” Shinsuke shrugs. “I still have to be one.”

Shinsuke, Iruka knows, comes from a long line of shinobi. They don’t have a bloodline release and aren’t very prominent, but Konoha isn’t kept alive only through families like the Nara and Hyuuga. There must be a terrible amount of pressure to uphold that lineage even on a second son like Shinsuke. He can’t quit just because he doesn’t like it.

It occurs to Iruka that Daikoku taught one of Shinsuke’s cousins. That boy wasn’t allowed to become a shinobi.

“Can I ask you something, Shinsuke-kun?”

Shinsuke shrugs again.

“Have you been fighting because of your cousin?”

“What if I have?”

“Well, you aren’t your cousin. Akinori hit people a lot harder than you have. But you already know that, don’t you?”

Shinsuke nods. “I did try, Iruka-sensei. But it felt bad…”

 _He’s a good kid,_ Iruka thinks. _I wish he hadn’t started those fights, but now that I think about it, he’s bigger than most of his classmates. If he’d really wanted to hurt them, they would have gotten hurt far worse than a few bruises on their shins and skinned elbows._

“I might have a solution,” Iruka tells him. “You’ll have to come to class for a little while longer, but I think the principal and I can come up with a reason to excuse you without upsetting your family.”

The relief on Shinsuke’s face brings tears with it.

Blinking them away, he asks, “Hey, Sensei?”

“Yeah?”

“How come you’re not mad?”

Iruka gives the question the thought Shinsuke needs him to give it. “Because you’re my student” isn’t enough. “Because I hate seeing someone so unhappy” doesn’t quite fit. “Because none of this is your fault” won’t comfort Shinsuke.

“Do you remember the Will of Fire, Shinsuke?”

“Yeah? You spent a whole class on it, Sensei.”

Iruka chuckles. He does try to impress that philosophy on his students.

“Well, Konoha isn’t the buildings we live in, right? It’s the people. We protect each other. If becoming a shinobi will hurt you, then it’s my job as a shinobi of Konoha to prevent that. Right?”

He tries to lighten the weight of his words with a smile, but the tears shining in Shinsuke’s eyes spill over anyway. Shinsuke wipes at his face and sniffles and wipes at his face again.

Iruka tries to let him get through it on his own, but when the tears don’t stop on their own and Shinsuke starts to shake, Iruka squats down in front of him.

He doesn’t have time to ask. Shinsuke throws his arms around Iruka’s neck, tears pouring down his face into Iruka’s shoulder as he sobs.

“I’m sorry, Shinsuke-kun,” Iruka tells him, putting his arms around him. “I should have realized how unhappy you are sooner. I see it now, though. The principal and I are going to help you. You’re going to be okay. I promise.”

Shinsuke cries harder and tightens his hold on Iruka, his breaths coming in ragged gasps.

Inside, Kakashi is calmly looking after the rest of the class.

Iruka owes him more than he can put into words.

* * *

“So, you figured out what Shinsuke needs,” Kakashi observes as they walk home.

“Thanks to you.”

“Eh, you would have gotten there eventually.”

“And Shinsuke would have been suffering more every day. I really was wrong to worry about you like I did.”

Kakashi laughs. “You were! But that’s okay. It’s good for them to have teachers like you who love them loudly.”

_From a team standpoint, I’d rather have three of Iruka’s noisy genin who have good hearts than three indifferent ones._

“This was your last day at the school, wasn’t it?” Iruka asks.

Kakashi doesn’t deny it.

“You should have said something,” Iruka complains. “I would have done something more special.”

“I don’t need anything special. Today was a good day. That’s enough.”

He smiles, and Iruka’s chest squeezes his heart too tight.

“You’ll at least let me buy you dinner, won’t you?” Iruka presses. “I’d offer to cook, but-”

“Please don’t!” Kakashi says quickly. Catching himself, he revises, “That is, you don’t have to do that.”

“That was too fast! And you can’t try to pretend you were just being polite after saying it like that!”

“I can’t spend another evening watching a man I know can use weapons proficiently nearly cut his own fingers off on carrots,” Kakashi whines.

Forehead throbbing and face burning, Iruka lifts his chin and walks faster. “If you’d rather eat alone, that’s fine.”

Kakashi trots ahead to get in front of him but wisely keeps walking backwards. “Hey, hey, don’t get mad, Sensei.”

Iruka glares at Kakashi- he doesn’t have to tilt his head to do it, which is satisfying. “It’s a little too late for that, don’t you think?”

“Probably.”

The pounding in Iruka’s forehead gets harder. “Probably, huh?”

“Sorry.” Kakashi ducks his head. “I’m going to miss working with you, you know.”

“That would sound more sincere if you weren’t saying it right after insulting me,” Iruka drawls, hating that he wishes Kakashi meant it. “Well, you did prove yourself to be helpful, so thank you for your hard work, Kakashi-sensei.”

Rather than take the out Iruka just gave him, Kakashi keeps walking backwards and keeps talking. “I can’t go to dinner with you.”

“That’s fine. You aren’t invited anymore, anyway.”

“I’m being sent on a mission,” Kakashi continues. “But you can take me to dinner when I get back. You can even cook for me if you’d like to.”

He says it with a smile, and Iruka feels himself give in. He’s never been good at staying angry.

“Then come back in one piece, will you? I don’t like human blood where I eat.”

Kakashi’s expression seems to shift into something like concern. “Iruka… You were supposed to say, ‘Work hard, Kakashi, and I’ll take you out for dinner when you come home.’”

“I know,” Iruka tells him brightly. “But I’m not going to.”

“Most people say things to make their friends want to come home. Why are you threatening me?”

“Because you’ll come back if you’re curious.”

Kakashi’s steps falter. “Sorry?”

“You know I’m going to practice cooking while you’re gone to prove you wrong. If you want to find out if I can do it, you’re going to have to survive.”

“Then you start practicing, Iruka,” Kakashi advises. “I’m going to be back before you know it, and I’m going to be hungry for something good.”

* * *

Kakashi isn’t back before Iruka knows it.

* * *

“You want to make Shinsuke your assistant?”

Iruka nods. “He’d be a liability outside Konoha, and with Kakashi gone, I won’t have an assistant anymore. I think his family wouldn’t complain if I said I want his help specifically.”

The vice principal taps his fingers on his desk. Iruka had expected the man to insist on running interference esteem Iruka and the principal, but when Iruka approached him, the vice principal took immediate, personal interest in Shinsuke’s situation.

“It will take some work getting them to accept this gracefully,“ he says slowly, “but if you think this is what the boy needs and Konoha will benefit from it, then I’ll speak to the principal. We’ll take care of it.”

“Really?”

“Of course. I was a teacher once, too, Iruka-sensei. All of the Academy’s students are my responsibility. I and the head principal don’t just decide what you should be teaching. We have the Will of Fire, too.” He smiles. “Leave the families to us, okay? You focus on Shinsuke.”

For the first time since Kakashi left, Iruka’s worries lessen.

* * *

Somehow, the longer Kakashi is gone, the worse Iruka’s cooking gets.

* * *

Iruka is grading Shinsuke’s last test before he’s excused when it hits him.

“That _asshole.”_

* * *

Kakashi turns up at Iruka’s door, bloodied and exhausted. It’s raining, and he’s soaked through.

“I’m back,” he says as if there aren’t smears of blood on Iruka’s door where he tried to grab the door handle and missed.

Iruka tugs him inside, sits him on the first kitchen chair Iruka can grab, gets Kakashi’s sopping wet clothes off and tosses them on the floor, then fetches the kit. On the way back, he grabs a couple towels and a box of juice.

He holds the towels out to Kakashi. “Dry yourself off while I get ready- _carefully.”_

Once Kakashi has patted himself down, getting blood all over Iruka’s softest towels as he does, and laid another one over his head, Iruka pushes the juice box at Kakashi. “Drink.”

While Kakashi drinks, seemingly unbothered that he’s naked, Iruka casts a critical eye over him. The wounds this time aren’t especially deep. There are just a lot of them.

Iruka lets out a tentative breath.

“You know what I don’t understand?” he asks as he gets down on his knees to work on a diagonal cut that runs the length of Kakashi’s shin.

The moment he touches Kakashi’s skin, Iruka shakes his head. _He’s freezing._

Kakashi stops drinking to ask, “What’s that?”

“How a shinobi as talented as you gets hurt so much.”

Kakashi clears his throat. “Even talented shinobi can get hurt, Iruka.”

“They can,” Iruka agrees. He smooths a layer of ointment over the cut and moves onto the next wound- another slash, this one straight across Kakashi’s inner thigh. “What’s strange is how often you in particular get hurt. Actually, no, that’s not quite right. What’s strange is how often you get hurt superficially.”

“Are you saying you want me to get hurt seriously?”

Iruka dabs at the dried blood around the cut. “I’m not.”

“Then what?”

Switching to a dry cloth, Iruka gently pats the skin dry as he says, “I guess I’m wondering if this is what you meant when you said ‘we’.”

Kakashi shifts under Iruka’s hands. “‘We’? What do you mean?”

“When you were talking about Shinsuke not being able to say what he needed to, you kept saying we. Not he. Not they. We.” Iruka rubs ointment on this cut and moves on again, this time to Kakashi’s opposite hip where someone stabbed him. Iruka can’t do much for this kind of wound, so he touches the skin above it. “You always dodge the question when I ask why you come to me. Getting hurt like this… It’s unnecessary. You do know that, don’t you?”

Kakashi shrugs and doesn’t meet Iruka’s eyes.

Shaking his head, Iruka dips the wet cloth in the warm water again before he wipes at the trail of blood down Kakashi’s arm from the slash wound on his shoulder.

“I’m telling you, you don’t need to be hurt to come here,” he continues, moving through the steps of cleaning the wound up. “I’d prefer to see you when you aren’t hurt, to be honest.”

Kakashi doesn’t meet his eyes, but he doesn’t try to escape either. Iruka lets him hide for a little while longer.

He keeps washing and patting and rubbing ointment over Kakashi’s broken skin until he gets to the final wound. It’s a cut that bisects Kakashi’s palm, and Iruka takes his time with this one.

When he finishes and Kakashi’s hand has been cleaned and covered, Iruka keeps hold of it. 

“Hey, Kakashi?”

Kakashi finally looks up. “Yeah?”

“If you want me to touch you, you should say so.”

“It isn’t that easy,” Kakashi protests.

“You don’t have to say it clearly,” Iruka tells him softly. “Not right now.”

Kakashi swallows.

Iruka looks down at their hands.

Kakashi looks down, too.

“Oh.”

Iruka smiles and reaches for Kakashi’s other, uninjured hand. “Yeah. Oh.”

Kakashi curls his fingers around Iruka’s hand, and Iruka smiles wider. “I hear you.”

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Iruka hauls Kakashi into the hospital.

“I’ve got an idiot with more lacerations than brains,” he tells the first medical-nin he sees, tugging Kakashi forward. “Please fix him.”

“Iruka,” Kakashi whines.

“Either you let them fix you up,” Iruka says him, forcibly calm, “or you get buried after I murder you.”

Kakashi glances between Iruka and the medical nin.

Finally, he lets out a breath and admits, “I got stabbed.”

Iruka unwraps the blanket wrapped around Kakashi’s shoulders and lifts the hem of his sleep shirt he yanked over Kakashi’s head earlier. He realizes as he does that he didn’t quite pull Kakashi’s too-large borrowed pants up over the top-large boxers Iruka tugged him into before they left.

The medical-nin blinks at them. He seems more interested in the wound than Kakashi’s bright blue boxers. “Please follow me, Kakashi-san.”

Kakashi hesitates, and Iruka rubs the spot on Kakashi’s back where Iruka’s been holding him. “I’ll be here when you’re ready to leave.”

Kakashi briefly leans into him. He brushes his fingers over the back of Iruka’s hand before his follows the medical-nin.

* * *

“You’re still here.”

Iruka blinks. He hadn’t realized he’d dozed off. Straightening up, he asks, “Ready to go?”

Kakashi nods. He holds out a hand, which Iruka takes.

He lets himself be pulled to his feet and sways for a moment, leaning into Kakashi as he regains his balance.

Kakashi keeps a firm hold on Iruka’s hand and doesn’t release it even after Iruka stops swaying. Iruka squeezes him back in thanks.

“So,” Iruka says, “are you cleared to leave?”

“Yep! Let’s go.”

Hand still held tightly in Kakashi’s, Iruka lets himself be led out of the hospital. He did drag Kakashi in; it’s only fair to let him manhandle Iruka on the way out.

The rain finally stopped, but it’s the middle of the night. No one else is walking the streets; only patrols move overhead.

Kakashi doesn’t let go of Iruka even after they’ve walked a few blocks, though. If anything, his grip gets tighter.

Iruka lays his free hand on Kakashi’s arm. “Hey. You okay?”

Kakshi nods sharply.

“Are you sure?” Before Kakashi can protest, Iruka continues, “You’re going to break my hand soon. That doesn’t feel like something a person who’s okay does.”

Iruka’s hand is freed immediately.

Without the warmth from Kakashi’s hand, Iruka’s feels suddenly cold.

“Sorry,” Kakashi says. “I should have been more careful.”

“It’s fine. I’m more concerned that you look so upset.”

For a long moment, Kakashi goes still and just looks Iruka over. Iruka reflexively mimics him, freezing in place as he feels Kakashi’s attention moving over him and feels himself flush.

When Kakashi finally blinks, Iruka relaxes.

“Hey, Iruka?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I kiss you?”

Iruka stares at him. “You know this is one of those times where you should just do it, right? Asking is weirder than not.”

”Then forget I asked, okay?”

Kakashi glances around before he slides his mask down. Eyes bright, he reaches up with one hand to touch Iruka’s chin and tilt his head.

Iruka takes a step closer and leans in.

Kissing Kakashi is easy. They’re the same height, and Kakashi takes it slow, his hands staying well above Iruka’s waistband even though they wander down his chest.

“You are going to talk to me sometimes, right?” Iruka asks when they pull apart.

Kakashi’s mask is already back in place, but Iruka can tell he’s smiling.

“Of course I’m still going to talk to you,” Kakashi says lightly. “How else will I tell you that you owe me dinner?”

“How else are you going to explain what all that pulling was about?” Iruka counters.

“I wanted to kiss you. I had to lie in one of the beds for over an hour, and I kept thinking about how I hadn’t kissed you yet.”

“You wanted to-” Iruka pinches the bridge of his nose. “There are betters ways of conveying that.”

“I thought you might want to wait until you got home.” Kakashi smiles harder. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

Shaking his head, Iruka leans in a second time and kisses Kakashi’s cheek. “Come on. The sooner we get back, the sooner I can cook for you.”

Kakashi nods, and this time, neither of them has to pull the other as they race for Iruka’s apartment.

* * *

Kakashi makes cooking difficult. He keeps coming over and pressing up against Iruka’s back. If Iruka lets him, which he does, Kakashi slides his hands under Iruka’s shirt.

“If this is your way of trying to distract me into burning the food, I’m going to make you eat it all,” Iruka grumbles.

For a moment, Kakashi stops feeling him up.

“If it would make you happy, I’d do it.”

Cold hands reach further up Iruka’s shirt, and Kakashi sighs as he pulls Iruka back against his chest.

* * *

Iruka wakes to an irate, “Iruka-sensei!”

When he opens his eyes, Naruto is glaring at him from the side of the bed.

“Oh, Naruto. Welcome back.”

“Is that all you have to say for yourself?”

Still hazy from the nap Naruto woke him up from, Iruka blinks at him stupidly. “Am I… supposed to say more?” A memory tugs at Iruka, and realization dawns. “That’s right! You’re home from a mission. Did you decide where you want to eat?”

Naruto stares at him incredulously. “Iruka-sensei… I want ramen, but first, you need to explain _that.”_

He points over Iruka’s shoulder, and Iruka remembers.

“Oh, this. Well, Kakashi sleeps here now.”

“In your bed?” Naruto asks. “But you’re in it…”

Kakashi chuckles, his face hidden from Naruto by Iruka’s neck. “Give him a minute. “

Iruka does, and when Naruto just keeps looking between them, refusing to comprehend what he’s seeing, Iruka shakes his head. He’d just kiss Kakashi if he could, but Kakashi’s still tormenting Team 7 with the mystery of what’s under his mask.

Sighing, Iruka reaches for Naruto and lays his hand on Naruto’s shoulder.

Kakashi squeezes Iruka a little tighter.

“Naruto, you’re going to have to be very brave right now-” Kakashi snorts “-as I tell you this, okay? Kakashi and I are together. I’m very happy, and he’s very happy, and so help me if you make a scene when I just woke up.”

Naruto blinks at him. “Huh?”

“We’re dating, and we sleep in the same bed because it’s nice,” Iruka revises. “I really don’t want to fight right now. I’m tired and you’re home safe.”

“But… He’s Kakashi-sensei.”

“That’s integral to the relationship, yes.”

Eyes sliding up and over Iruka’s shoulder, Naruto squints at Kakashi. “You’re lucky Iruka-sensei’s so innocent. I bet he doesn’t even know how much you like those weird books you’re always reading.”

Iruka does, in fact, know how much Kakashi likes the books.

“You know, Naruto, your teacher really isn’t that innocent,” Kakashi teases. “He’s read the books, too.”

“I haven’t!” “No, he hasn’t!” Iruka and Naruto chorus.

“Well, half a chapter has to count for _something.”_

Shaking off Kakashi’s comment, Naruto looks back down at Iruka. “Hey, Iruka-sensei?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I still come over sometimes?”

Kakashi retrieves the arm he’s had resting over Iruka’s waist without being asked.

“Naruto… Come here.” Iruka sits up and, ignoring Naruto’s wince before he realizes Iruka is fully clothed, pulls Naruto into a hug. “Don’t be stupid. Of course you can still come over. We’ll still eat together when you get back from mission, and you’ll come over and sleep on my futon. Kakashi will be here sometimes, and he might join in now and again. Nothing else is different. Okay?”

Naruto squeezes him hard enough to hurt, and Iruka rests his cheek on the crown of Naruto’s head.

Iruka isn’t the only one who speaks his mind openly.

“Hey,” Kakashi says after a while. “Naruto, I need your teacher back.”

Peering around Iruka, Naruto makes a face at Kakashi. “No. Iruka-sensei and I are going to go get dinner. Right, Sensei?”

He looks up at Iruka with his most innocent expression.

“You know that hasn’t worked on me since you dumped a bucket of yellow paint on my head, right?” Iruka asks.

“Come on… I haven’t seen you in ages!”

“You saw him before we left three days ago,” Kakashi argues. “I’m the one who should be eating with him.”

“You saw him then, too!”

“Yeah, but I didn’t get to kiss him. And I had to sleep on my own while we were away. You don’t sleep with him every night like I get to.”

Kakashi definitely doesn’t sleep with Iruka every night 

Face scrunching, Naruto looks up at Iruka. “Please, Sensei?”

“A promise is a promise,” Iruka allows. “Kakashi, if you want to come, your spare clothes are hanging in the closet.”

“S-Spare clothes?” Naruto splutters. “Wait. Why is Kakashi-sensei being invited?”

“Because I missed both of you and we all know that him coming with us won’t change any of what you’re going to say. He’s going to leave alone after we eat, though. Now shoo. I’ve got to change.”

“Isn’t Kakashi-sensei going to leave, too?” Naruto asks on his way to the door.

Kakshi slips his face under the blanket. “He isn’t.”

“But-”

Iruka points past Naruto. “Out!”

Visibly unhappy, Naruto leaves the room and shuts the door.

“Well,” Kakashi says, “he’s definitely your student.”

“Does that mean you’re staying here?” Iruka asks as he heads to the closet in search of something he wasn’t just sleeping in.

Sitting up, Kakashi shakes his head. Without his mask, his face seems broader, his chin longer. Iruka lets himself give into the urge to go back and kiss him, cupping Kakashi’s smooth cheeks in his hands, and Kakashi smiles against his lips.

“No, I’ll come, too.”

Once they’re dressed, they join Naruto in the kitchen.

“Don’t do anything weird,” he warns.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Iruka counters. “Are we going to Ichiraku or are you still curious about that other place?”

Naruto immediately launches into an extended non-answer, which Iruka only half hears. Kakashi’s standing closer than is polite, and as the three of them head out, Naruto taking the lead while Kakashi and Iruka walk side by side, he curls his hand loosely around Iruka’s forearm.

“Iruka-sensei!” Naruto whines, jogging back to join them. “I’m hungry!”

“Did you decide where we’re going to eat?” Iruka asks.

Naruto takes Iruka’s free hand and tugs on it. “Sensei, I already told you. I want Ichiraku!”

“Well, you heard him, Kakashi,” Iruka says. “We’re getting Ichiraku.”

“Is that so?” Kakashi leans forward and meets Naruto’s eyes. “Hey, Naruto, I bet I can get there first.”

Naruto crosses his arms across his chest, apparently unconcerned that he’s still holding Iruka’s hand. “You bet me what?”

“If you beat me, you get to sit next to Iruka and I have to sit on the other side of you, but if I beat you, you have to sit on the other side of me.”

“So, the loser doesn’t get to sit next to Iruka-sensei,” Naruto surmises. “Sorry, Iruka-sensei, but I’m going to beat Kakashi-sensei.”

“You should probably get going, then,” Iruka points out. “Kakashi already left.”

Naruto blinks at the space where Kakashi used to be. “He what- Kakashi-sensei! You cheated!” 

Shaking his head, Iruka jogs after them. By the time he gets there, Naruto is yelling about cheaters and Kakashi is happily egging him on, so Iruka does the sensible thing and tells them he’s going to sit in the middle.

Teuchi greets them warmly, and Iruka pretends not to notice Kakashi scooting his chair closer as they sit down.

When their food comes, Naruto is lying badly about how flawlessly he completed their last mission, Kakashi’s hand is resting warmly on Iruka’s knee, and Iruka has never been happier.

**Author's Note:**

> This isn’t what I wanted it to be, but I’ve been fiddling with it for like a week and I don’t think I can look at it anymore.
> 
> I'm on [tumblr](https://asotin.tumblr.com) now. Come say hi!


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